And he said, "I am Health. Whom I touch will have always the red blood
dancing in his veins; he will not know weariness nor pain; life will be a
long laugh to him."

"No," said another, "let me touch; for I am Wealth. If I touch him
material care shall not feed on him. He shall live on the blood and sinews
of his fellow-men, if he will; and what his eye lusts for, his hand will
have. He shall not know 'I want.'" And the child lay still like lead.

And another said, "Let me touch him: I am Fame. The man I touch, I lead
to a high hill where all men may see him. When he dies he is not
forgotten, his name rings down the centuries, each echoes it on to his
fellows. Think--not to be forgotten through the ages!"

And the mother lay breathing steadily, but in the brain-picture they
pressed closer to her.

"Let me touch the child," said one, "for I am Love. If I touch him he
shall not walk through life alone. In the greatest dark, when he puts out
his hand he shall find another hand by it. When the world is against him,
another shall say, 'You and I.'" And the child trembled.

But another pressed close and said, "Let me touch; for I am Talent. I can
do all things--that have been done before. I touch the soldier, the
statesman, the thinker, and the politician who succeed; and the writer who
is never before his time, and never behind it. If I touch the child he
shall not weep for failure."

About the mother's head the bees were flying, touching her with their long